Anna Newhoff
NCR Reporter
The Northeast Florida Fair is ready to “Grow it, Show it, Sew it” for its 78th year, with fresh events to celebrate. This year’s fair is Oct. 9-19.
This year, the fair partners with the Nassau County Supervisor of Elections Office for a mock election on the school booths in the Home Arts building.
“Instead of us having judges judge the booth, we are going to allow fairgoers to elect the winners this year in a mock election,” Home Arts Director Angie Schlotterbeck said. “The Supervisor of Elections Office is going to register voters, but they’re also going to oversee the voting process with a voting booth set up.”
A new “Most Artistic Display” contest was also added this year, giving students another chance to win a prize.
“The middle school and high school students don’t usually participate in the fair theme – they do a lot more artsy type stuff,” Schlotterbeck said. The new contest gives them a chance to win for self-expression.
The students participate in the school booth decorating contest as well. This year the fair theme is “78 Years of Grow it, Show it, Sew it.”
“We wanted to include the home arts with the growing of the agriculture and the showing of the animals,” Schlotterbeck said.
The Home Arts competitions alone draw around 800 to 1,000 entrants each year, ranging from student artwork to crafts created by senior citizens through the Nassau County Council on Aging, who use the art to build motor skills. The Home Arts area also features canning, quilting, and baking.
Any local person can enter exhibits into the fair free of charge, winning ribbons and cash prizes. Categories are broken into age divisions, with Pee Wee Youth ages 5-7, Junior Youth ages 8-13, Senior Youth ages 14-18, Adults through age 59, Senior Citizens for those 60 and older, and a category for Persons with Disabilities. The various ranks of 4-H compete in their own divisions.
All Home Arts entries other than baked goods must be dropped off Oct. 5 from 1-5 p.m. or Oct. 6 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Baked goods and farm products are due Oct. 7 from 2-4 p.m. or Oct. 8 from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. School booths will be decorated Oct. 7 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Complete contest rules can be found under “Participate” then “2025 Home Arts Premium and Rulebook” at www.neflfair.org.
Alongside the art events, the agriculture side has local youth show a total of around 400 animals each year through programs like 4-H and Future Farmers of America. Students learn about responsibility and the circle of life by raising, showing, and selling their animals.
Other new additions at the fair include restrooms near the show barns, new signage, more paved sidewalks, and an expanded parking area made of crush create, which is crushed and screened recycled concrete.
While the fair has grown and changed over the decades, fair trustees keep it rooted in the local culture and community.
“We’re teaching our kids here about life and agriculture,” Schlotterbeck said. “Sewing it, growing it, and showing it – that’s what we are doing here.”
For more information about the 2025 fair, visit neflfair.org.
reporter@nassaucountyrecord.com